Special Connection Homeschool

This year during the Christmas season we are trying to focus more on giving to those in need than giving and receiving presents under the tree. This video is a great example of why we are doing what we are. [AC] Promo 2011 from Advent Conspiracy on Vimeo . Here are some great places to shop and give during this holiday season. These are places that we have purchased gifts to give our loved ones this year. We were excited because it not only will give our loved ones pleasure but the purchase provides help, hope and sustainable income to those in poverty. The products are amazing and the service is incredible so give them a try! (I know it's late this season but keep these in mind throughout the year. They would be great for birthdays or any day.) Shopping WorldCrafts "WorldCrafts SM develops sustainable, fair-trade businesses among impoverished people around the world. Our vision is to offer an income with dignity and the hope of everlasting life to every person on...

For those who don't know, Pizza Hut has a Book It Reading Incentive Program that offers free pizzas to kids just for reading books. This program is available to homeschoolers as well. We are doing Book It this year and Gess is thrilled getting her pizzas! She has always enjoyed reading, but since her school year is a bit more packed I noticed she wasn't reading as much as she used to. Reminding her she will get a free pizza for reading seems to help her remember to do it. Today, during a massive amount of holiday and grocery shopping I thought it would be the perfect time to redeem that coupon from last month. Thanks Pizza hut for making our day brighter and reading lots of fun!

Gess and I have been reading through the Christmas story in the Bible during her devotional time each day. It is, of course, one that she is very familiar with. The other day, when she had some free time, I asked her to go write her own book about Christmas. I stapled some construction paper together and set her off on her own. I guess it shouldn't have surprised me that she wrote the story from the Bible. While her version of the book wasn't very "wordy" it certainly had every aspect of the story there (and with NO guidance from me). Here you can see, each page (including the cover) in order. She did a good job, don't you think? That was just something I had her do on a whim. For actual craft time I went again to Kaboose and found a Craft Stick Christmas Tree Ornament Craft to do. (It is under the Easy Christmas Ornaments craft section.) You can find the directions on their page. First you paint the craft sticks. You paint one brown for the trunk (it ...

Gess' favorite subject is Science. It just so happens that it is not mine. Granted we found some curriculum that makes it easy enough. Still, I always had trouble getting around to the experiments. I just have so much else to do and messing up my kitchen during the time I usually am about to start cleaning it isn't really motivation for me. So, we came up with a solution. We now study the material during the school week and daddy and Gess do the experiment for it on the weekend! This semester we were using the Real Science 4 Kids Pre-Level 1 Chemistry book. I had blogged previously about how we were using this but because I never got around to the experiments I gave up and went with other Science options. However, now that daddy is helping, we will have this book completed by the end of the semester! (I had also mentioned how you could purchase this product by the chapter, but they don't allow you to do that anymore.) Gess looks really forward to the experiments...

How would you like to get one of these forts for your kid for Christmas absolutely free? Well, Toydle has teamed up with the TOS Homeschool Crew to give away, not one, not two, but THREE of these forts which are valued at $240.00 each! As a member of the Crew , I am not eligible, but I would be thrilled if one of my readers won one. Visit the TOS Homeschool Blog to find out how to enter your chance to win this Toydle fort for that special child on your Christmas list. Good luck! I hope one of you wins!

In my recent review of Math Mammoth Money I shared how Gess was getting good at counting coins using dimes and pennies. To practice that skill we came up with a silly little game I called "Can I buy that?" I didn't even actually come up with the title or call it a game until we were playing it for awhile. However, it was something Gess enjoyed and now she will ask to play the game "Can I buy that?" whether we are doing school or not. I got the idea from an online friend who also homeschools their child that has Down syndrome. She said they make up a store around the house and have the kids spend their play money there. So far in money all we had done was recognize coins and know how much each one was worth. Now that we began counting coins in math I decided to implement the shopping idea into our lesson. I wanted Gess to see counting coins in an every day life situation however, instead of just pretending to play store, we acted as if it were a game to...

Each year I am usually lucky enough to find this really cool craft book titled 175 Easy-To-Do Thanksgiving Crafts at the public library. I think someone else finally stumbled upon that gem so my easy thanksgiving crafts had to come from somewhere else. In googling easy crafts, I entered another site that I have used before; Kaboose . I love their craft section because they have a holiday section titled easy , and this craft certainly was. (I search for easy because I am not very crafty, it has nothing to do with Gess!) We went with the Spoon Pilgrims craft, though we made some Wampanoags too. First you print the patterns and trace them on paper and then cut them out. They were simple and easy for Gess to cut by herself. Then you glue the outfits on the spoons. Then you glue on some eyes (we used marker to make hair too). And there you have your spoon figures. Now we can have a puppet show of the first Thanksgiving! For other easy craft ideas you might visit my past blogs Thanksg...

Overruled is a 35 minute docudrama that examines real cases in American courts in which parental rights were denied to parents. Can you imagine having your child taken from your custody simply because you make them attend church 3 times a week? One judge in America did just that. He ordered that their child (who had already been taken from their custody) not be returned to the home unless the parents agreed to only take him to church once a week! A JUDGE decided how much church was too much church! An AMERICAN judge had the power to make that decision! And parents of kids in school, did you know that you are checking your parental rights at the school door? Want your child opted out of sex education that might conflict with your personal views? A parent in this video was arrested for trying to opt his child out and the school never consented to do so! Or what about medical information for your child? Do you know that you must sign for permission for medical treatment for your c...

We had the opportunity this month to review the Time Timer which is a handy little tool for children with special needs, but has many other applications as well. The Time Timer can be used in education, business, special needs or every day life. Basically it's great for anytime you need to keep track of how much time is spent on a task. What is so neat about the Time Timer , is that unlike a typical timer, it has a visual element that highlights how much time is left. So rather than just ticking down and ringing when something is done, it slowly fades the red area to white. There is also an optional quiet beep that beeps twice when the time is all done. With my daughter having Down syndrome, we were interested in utilizing this timer for special needs situations. See, if a child can not yet tell time, the Time Timer can help them to keep track of a segment of time for various purposes. While I was excited to get this product now, I think it would have been even more b...

While Gess is an excellent reader, one area that she really struggles with is math, which is pretty typical for children with Down syndrome. Because of that I planned on tackling some life-skills math topics such as time, money and measurement this year. So when I saw I had the chance to review Math Mammoth I jumped at it. I was hoping to be able to review at least one of the topics mentioned above, but was pleasantly surprised when they allowed me to review all 3 of them! So what is Math Mammoth ? "Math Mammoth offers affordable, yet quality math worktexts and workbooks for grades 1-8, available as both downloads and printed books. These books concentrate on conceptual understanding and are strong in mental math. The directions in the worktexts are written directly to the student, and are often self-teaching, thus requiring little preparation and involvement from the teacher." I can certainly vouch for the affordability, quality and ease of teacher preparation. E...

We had the opportunity to review Keyboard Town PALS this last month and I have to tell you, I am absolutely amazed with the results! Keyboard Town PALS is a program for teaching children to type and it worked really well for us! Typing is a skill that I feared would take Gess (who has Down syndrome) forever to learn. In fact, we had tried other typing programs and teaching her myself, but it never seemed to take. So Gess has been doing what many kids (and some adults) do; hunt and peck. Gess has been on the computer enough to where she actually knows where most (if not all) of the letters are. It's her motor skills that were the most challenging. So the first time we logged on to Keyboard Town PALS I couldn't believe how easily she picked it up! This program is so child friendly and very helpful for kids with special needs like Gess! Here is how it works. You are guided through "Keyboard Town" by a fun and bubbly character named Sunny (OK, my husband said ...